Borsk Fey'lya, Chief of State of the New Republic, offered an apologetic expression that looked as false to Luke as it was well-precticed. His words followed suit. "I am sorry," he demurred, vilot eyes unblinking. "I can be of no help in this matter, Master Skywalker." Luke faught down the urge to shout and sought the calm he so offen implored of his students. "I beg you to reconsider, Chief Fey'lya, Lives are at stake." Grief over Ikirt's death was stll raw.
The Bothan nodded. "I am painfully aware of that, Master Skywalke. Howerver, whereas you are concerned with the lives of four--count them, four--Jedi, I must consider a great many more. I must consider the lives we will lose in an attempted to retake the Yavin system, a system with no tactical or stategic advantage. I must consider, further, that this action would quite effectively end the truce with the Yuuzhan Vong and cost even more lives in renewed warfare."
They've already broken the truce," Luke replied, still trying to keep his voice even. "They promised not to take any more of our worlds if the Jedi are turned over to them, something that the whole galaxy seems eager to do. And yet they've taken Yavin Four."
"Of course, niether I nor the Seate sanction the purported purge of Jedi."
"Purported?" Luke allowed the word to absorb all of the incredulity he felt at Fey'lya's implication. "And as for Yavin Four," the Chief continued evenly, "it is not one of 'our worlds,' notif by the use of the plural pronoun you mean the New Republic. Yavin Four is <i> your</i> pet project, Master Skywalker. You Jedi have made it clear that you are not bound by the laws and decisions of the senate. You fight unsanctioned battles and provoke needless dissent. And now, suddenly, after spurning our wishes, you desire our aid? Really, can't you see the hypocrisy in that?"
Chief , putting aside for the monent that you are confounding the action of a handfull of Jedi with our order as a whole, these are <i> children </i> we're talking about. They've done nothing, and don't deserve to suffer for the mistakes of others."
"But you would ask me to jeopardise millions, perhaps billions for those same mistakes? You mistakes? Listen to youself,"
That's the most--" Jaina Solo exploded. Luke was surspised she had kept silent for so long.
Quiet, Jaina," He said.
"But he's twisting--"
"Child, you have all of you mother's fire and none of her commen sence," fey'lya said. Listen to your Master."
"There's no need to insult my niece," Luke said. "Her brother is one of those missing."
"Would this be Anakin Solo, who forged a fake departure authority in order to leave Coruscant surreptitously?"
"Anakin is a little...overeager."
"He did not proceed under you authority?"
"No, Chief Fey'lya, he did not, but he thought the students at the praxeum were in imminent danger. As it turns out, he was correct."
"Another example, however, of what I'm talking about. Young Solo ran off against orders, breaking several laws in doing so, with no say-so from anyone. This, so far as I can tell, is the essence of what the Jedi have become."
"I'm coming to you now, Chief Fey'lys."
"Yes. Now that the matter is too large for you to handle on your own. And I not that you went to General Antillies--and, I suspect, to others. And they all sent you here."
"I was inquiring into what was posssible,: Luke said. "Not making request."
"How diplomatic. And where is your sister in all this? She and her husband also seem to have disappeared."
"That's not relevent to this," Luke said.
"Oh, isn't it? Are they engaged in yet more unsanctioned covert activitys? Are they a part of the govenment you're trying to run on the side, as if the elected offcials of the New Republic are incompetent to do their jods?"
"We're following our Jedi mandate, Chief Fey'lya. Wr protect. We serve, I'm sorry if these goals are incompatible with yours."
"The arrogance," Fey'lya said. "The sheer arrogance. And you wonder why you are disliked."
Luke felt matters rushing to a heated conclusion and kno

?Conquest? is the shortest novel in the New Jedi Order line thus far, but don?t let that discourage you ? it?s also in many important ways one of the best. Like ?Hero?s Trial? before it, ?Conquest? follows only one character, Anakin this time, through the bulk of the book. Though it is short, this entry reveals more to us about the Vong as a people, as a culture, than any three novels before it. In addition, it?s nice finally to see a New Jedi Order novel that actually focuses on the Jedi. Greg Keyes certainly isn?t the best author who?s been inducted into the Star Wars fold recently, but he definitely *is* one of the most engaging. At times, Keyes? style seemed a little ?fan fiction-ish? rather than ?profic.? The sentence structure and word choice sometimes just didn?t feel professional, but that is easily overlooked because it didn?t detract from the novel, it was just different.

The plot is straightforward: Several months after Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah?s offering to end the invasion if all the Jedi are turned over to him, the Peace Brigade, as well as planetfuls of desperate people near the path of the invasion route, are out hunting Jedi ? pretty much completely unhindered by the New Republic government. Because of this, the schism that has been growing between the Jedi deepens drastically. Figuring that Yavin IV, home of the Jedi Academy, will be a Vong target, Luke sends Karrde to evacuate the trainees, but Anakin knows he won?t get there in time, and rushes off, against Luke?s direct orders, to help his friends. He arrives in the Yavin system to find that Karrde has not yet arrived, but the Peace Brigade has. Thus begins Anakin?s trials and tribulations, which will last the rest of the book. As his quest continues, Anakin teams up with a renegade Yuuzhan Vong, a ?Shamed One? who has apparently lost the favor of ?gods and family? (although he quite vehemently denies it), through whom the young Jedi really begins to understand what the Republic is dealing with. Meanwhile, Tahiri, Anakin?s best friend, has been captured by the Vong and is being brainwashed by members of their ?Shaper? caste who want not only to understand what the Force is, but also want to have their own, Vong, Force-user.

Previously, many Star Wars fans have complained that the New Jedi Order sequence has been to dark, too gruesome for their tastes. Despair not!, for ?Conquest? is much more upbeat both in terms of tone, style, and content. There is a little Vong brutality, but it mostly happens off-camera, and what is shown is handled tastefully, not in the over-the-top manner which we have seen so often previously. As I said earlier, Keyes is a very engaging author, with an easy-to-read style that allows you to fall right into the book. The action and suspense are gripping, but instead of following the move-by-move descriptive formula favored by R.A. Salvatore and Michael Stackpole, Keyes tended to focus on what the characters involved with the action were thinking and going through. In many ways the style of this novel would feel more at home in the Bantam or Young Jedi Knights series than in the New Jedi Order.

In fact, character is what Keyes seems to do best. Luke, Mara, and Borsk all acted (or didn?t act, as the case may be) in character, although sometimes their dialogue didn?t sound quite right, but all the other characters were perfectly portrayed. And there were quite a few characters, mostly Jedi and others hailing from the Young Jedi Knights and Junior Jedi Knights lines of YA novels. The twins, Anakin, his best friend Tahiri, and others were all perfectly on-target in terms of characterization and attitude, and some previously unremarkable characters, such as diminutive Jedi Master Ikrit and Dorsk 82, were completely salvaged. In addition, look for a cameo by Corran Horn.

As I have noted, this is an ?Anakin novel,? in much the same way that ?Balance Point? was a ?Jacen novel.? In fact, in many ways this book

I'll be reading it shortly, however, I got one thing to say. Jaina had every right to insult Borsk, but I think he got off too lightly (in the physical sense). I'd gone and knock him clear across the room. I always believed that he was too Palpatinisitic for my taste. Now he just proved that he's like Palpatine, as far as his concern for the Jedi is involved. The only difference is that he's not a Jedi, and I'm certain that no Jedi will want anything to do with him, or the New Republic leadership, now. He signed his own death warrant, at least in the political sense.

I do have one thing to say. I skimmed the epilogue. I thought, based on what's written on the back of this book and Rebirth, that after he rescued her, Anakin, Tahiri, and Rapuung escaped into parts unknown, aiming at rejoining the others eventually. Sort of like Luke and Han intending to regroup with the Rebel forces at the rendezvous point in Empire Strikes Back, but took a roundabout path, rather than the direct path.

<goes crazy> I have been to SO many bookstores, hoping to find it early, but noooo, I still can't find it today.
<Take a deep breath. you will live through this>
Sorry
four months, and I can't even find it today!